There’s a scene in the second helping of HBO’s The Leftovers that chills to the bone: A grieving woman who lost her husband and kids in the Rapture-like “Sudden Departure” sits alone in a crowded coffee shop, concealing a handgun in her purse.

She sports suburban soccer-mom duds and the requisite no-muss, no-fuss bob haircut — but not the chipper demeanor. Instead she projects quiet rage, as if she’s on the verge of doing something very bad and about to snap at any moment.

She intentionally knocks her coffee mug off the table, smashing it to bits. A pissed-off barista goes ballistic before noticing who she is: Mapleton resident Nora Durst (below), something of a town celebrity and living reminder of everyone’s worst nightmare following the tragic wipe-out of her entire brood.

“If I lost my whole family, I’d need to shoot something,” says Jill Garvey, whose violent outburst against a field hockey classmate in the pilot episode seemed spurred by unleashed anger over the baffling events of October 14 and her mother’s defection to a supposed cult called the "Guilty Remnants."

Nora in Season 1, Episode 2 of HBO's "The Leftovers."

The brooding teenage daughter of Mapleton police chief Kevin Garvey, Jill notices the gun in Nora’s handbag and — like we the viewers — is creeped out yet captivated by the notion of an allegedly law-abiding example citizen possibly going off the rails. She cuts class to spy on Nora as she pays a visit to conduct a “Departure questionnaire” at the modest abode of an elderly couple that lost their disabled son in the unexplained mass disappearance. While snooping through her car, Jill’s risk-loving friend Aimee (the bad-influence heir apparent to Rayanne from My So-Called Life) finds untouched children’s music CDS and stale jelly beans.

Meanwhile, suspense builds to a please-don’t-pull-the-trigger crescendo as Nora interviews the aging pair as part of a formality so they can collect survivor benefits. Is that gun loaded? Is this the moment she loses it? Quick, someone find a blow-up penguin for her to punch!

It’s a moment that effectively illuminates the emotional through-line of this dark Lindelofian drama: When pushed to the brink, bubbling over with unexpressed, grief-fueled fury, how do we keep it together without losing our shit? Where and to whom should we turn for help if we can’t find solace at home?

That question haunts the show’s central characters as they deal with Sudden Departure-related stress in myriad ways: Jill leans on bad-girl Aimee for moral support. Kevin is forced into therapy after he may or may not have been involved in the massacre of a pack of wild dogs. (Everyone, including his therapist, thinks he did it. He pins the crime on a mysterious bald-headed vigilante.) Kevin’s son, Tom, a conflicted disciple of insane cult leader/sexual predator “Holy Wayne” (who claims he can hug the pain out of people), freaks out after killing a cop during a shootout on Wayne’s Nevada compound but continues working for the madman. Meek Meg Abbott, a GR recruit (played by Liv Tyler, below), learns that hacking away at a tree with an axe can dull the pain.

Liv Tyler in Episode 2 of HBO's "The Leftovers."

Image: HBO

Episode 2 closes out as Meg gleefully wields her weapon, reveling in the physical release. It was Kevin’s wife, Laurie, who passed on the axe-as-therapy technique to the sad-eyed, emotionally repressed beauty whose internal torment deepens as she struggles to come to terms with her mom’s vanishing act.

The GR, we’re learning, is a nonviolent outfit: Recall how members including Laurie didn’t fight back while getting brutally beaten by angry townsfolk at a memorial for 10/14 victims. Perhaps it was not a coincidence that they chose to interrupt the solemn gathering when Nora Durst took the stage to give a speech, brandishing a weird sign that read: “STOP WASTING YOUR BREATH!”

It’s clear now that the message was meant for Nora, who has chosen to arm herself against the pain rather than addressing it head on — like those chain-smoking, no-talking, buzz-killing Guilty Remnants.

Leftovers Leftovers:

• The actress who plays Nora is no joke. A Tony nominee and veteran of Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf theater troupe, Carrie Coon is set to star as Ben Affleck’s sister in the film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.• Blow-up penguins? Not just for kids! (Kevin might need to get a new shrink.)• Post-psychotic break, Kevin Garvey Senior (Scott Glenn) cuts the series’ realism with a welcome injection of spiritual intrigue. He’s got moments of lucid advice for his son, declaring: “Contrary to the professional opinion of others, I maintain my shit remains intact.” But then he devolves into strange babble wherein he warns Kevin Junior: “They said they’re sending someone to help you. Whatever it is, you might want to keep it to yourself.” It remains to be seen whether those voices are heavenly — or just in his head. • Kevin is a man of science (as opposed to his father), so it must have been very satisfying to discover that his breakfast bagels didn’t magically go poof. • I wish the bagels went poof. • I love Meg’s first reaction to finding out Laurie is married to Kevin: “The hot cop? And you’re here?” More like “Is Jennifer Aniston writing this show?” Because.

Your turn to sound off: What’s your take on “Penguin One, Us Zero”? If GR isn’t a cult, as Laurie claims, then what is it — a yoga retreat without the yoga? Anyone else want some more supernatural action on this show? Also: What did the cast of “Perfect Strangers” do right in order to make the cut (along with Gary Busey and Tony Bourdain)?

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